Vidocq (2007)

Touches You

The Age of Commercialism

How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

I started this once and stopped because, for god's sake, how much green screen can one person take? It came around again and soldiered on this time and...for god's sake, how much green screen can one person take? The whole conceit of trying to make the French Revolution look sexxxxxxy is ridiculous. The plot, which I didn't understand has a hole as big as Depardieu's nose: Did they really have the technology for unbreakable mirrors in the 1870s? Yes, I know it's fantasy but everything on the screen screamed "2000AD steampunk" rather than "period costume". Almost every single effect served not to enhance the plot but to make you stop thinking about it. "Is that street real or CGI?" You don't want your audience asking this question or at least *I* don't want to ask this question. The plot? Um..a journalist is looking for...some guy. A whole bunch of special effects happen. There's some pretty people. Some ugly people. A little nudity. A big fight at the end and who really knows what happens or why.It's probably a great movie to get baked and watch but, sadly, I don't smoke weed anymore.

It takes place in 1830 in Paris. Vidocq is the name of the main character who's based on an actual French historical figure that's considered one of the pioneers of scientific police (think CSI). He's played by probably the most famous French actor living today: Gérard Depardieu. Rather originally, the title character dies in the first 5 minutes of the film. The rest of the story alternates between the investigation of a journalist retracing Vidocq's steps and flashbacks of Vidocq's last case. The original screenplay was written by best-selling French mystery writer, Jean-Christophe Grangé. It was his first original screenplay, and he says it will be his last, and not because he wasn't happy with it. This last case of Vidocq involves the murder of notables by lightning strike. The journalist's investigation takes us from person to person in a rather linear fashion. The investigation itself is not particularly gripping, but there are a couple of big twists at the end. The "bad guy" sports a very cool mirror mask. The fantastical elements originate from the mirror mask person, not everything is real or scientifically explained.The special effects in general, with a couple of exceptions, are pretty well done, particularly the mask's reflections. It's apparently the first commercial feature film made completely with a digital camera (as opposed to a camera with film). This means that the picture quality, at the time, was crisper than usual, also giving it an unusual look. Lots of work has been done on lighting and colours. The colours are very vivid and favour the colours red, yellow and green. The decors are a mix of real life and digital trickery, they usually look very good and unlike your standard American films. Despite taking place in the 19th century, the editing is modern and very fast, with lots of very quick close-ups. I personally didn't like that style of frenetic cutting because the cuts often seemed unnecessary and made things either less involving or a little harder to assimilate. The characters seemed a bit on the shallow side to me, but then it's more about action, mystery and suspense with a touch of fantastical. Vidocq was compared to the film Seven but in 1830. It's nowhere near as good in any regard, except perhaps for visual style, very different anyway.The director, Pitof, was a special effects supervisor for most of his career (City of Lost Children, Alien IV) and his following project was directing the infamous Catwoman. It's likely he got that job because of Vidocq. I find that the director Pitof is not very good at telling a story, has trouble with pacing and making us care about the characters. Vidocq is worth renting (or buying cheap) for the spiffy visuals alone. Overall, the movie is not bad but not memorable either. It's likely that a more talented director (Burton, Fincher, Jeunet, etc) with the same material could have done a lot better.Rating: 6 out of 10 (Good) P.S. There are no portals, dark or otherwise.

As a friend's recommendation, I took on "Vidocq" in my movie arsenal. The plot is forever thick and leaves you guessing until the end. Twists and Turns, and an Originality that keeps you locked in your seats. At times you will find yourself wrinkling your nose to some of the eroticism presented in this film, while at the same time captivated by the uniqueness of the concepts and situations which occur throughout the film. It's a "double wrapped" present, sort of how it would be to get a gift in a box, in a box. Overall quality is pleasing to the eye and stimulating to the brain. I continue to recommend this film to anyone who enjoys a good thriller, or mind bending visual experience. However DO keep in mind the rating is exact and to the point. "R" for a reason. Enjoy!

I gave 10 just to improve the rating, because this movie is freeway better than average level. May be the story is quite trivial, but the picture is brilliant! Almost every frame is like from paintings of great artists, the colours, gamma are like from masterpieces of Gustave Courbet or Eugenie Delacroix. You can fill the atmosphere of that time. After seeing the movie, I was quite curious and sniff the Web for extra information about Vidoque as a person. Reading some articles I found that Eugène François Vidocq was real man, who lived 1775 – 1857, he became from a criminal to one of the first private investigators. There are some unbelievable and magic stories about him. By the way, it was interesting to know that the story has routs. So that I think it's great movie. Alexei Karaghiaur, artist